MEMPHIS – On Sunday, UTSA Baseball wrapped up its stay at Memphis, taking on the Tigers in the third and final installment of the American Conference series. The Roadrunners pulled ahead early, but an eight-run Tiger sixth inning was too much to overcome, handing the Navy & Orange their first league series loss in more than two years. UTSA heads back home for the final week of the regular season at 34-17 overall with a 16-8 American record.
FIRST INNING
Courtesy of a throwing miscue, Drew Detlefsen was the first Roadrunner aboard on Sunday. After making his way to second on a balk, Andrew Stucky brought the left fielder home with a double off the wall in left. Jake Qualia earned his second straight Sunday start on the mound, retiring the side in order for a 1-0 lead through one inning.
THIRD INNING
Following a quiet trip to the plate from his offense, Qualia trotted back out to the bump for his third frame of work. The freshman forced a popup before his defense handled back-to-back groundouts to end the frame. The final out of the frame came with the pitcher covering first base, just beating the runner to close his third perfect inning of work still up by one.
FOURTH INNING
Memphis led off with a single before stealing its way into scoring position. A sacrifice bunt and a walk placed runners at the corners ahead of a first-pitch RBI single with one away. The stanza came to a close shortly after, but not before the Tigers knotted things up at one run apiece.
FIFTH INNING
The first pitch of the bottom half went just inside the right-field foul pole for a solo home run as Memphis pulled ahead 2-1. An ensuing double marked the end of the road for Qualia on Sunday, bringing out senior Mike DeBattista. The senior struck out a pair of Tigers to escape the inning down one.
SIXTH INNING
With a new pitcher on the mound for the hosts, Lane Haworth got right to work with a double down the line in left. A four-pitch walk to Josh Arquette later put runners at the corners with one away. Two consecutive RBI singles from Diego Diaz and Cade Sadler swung the lead back to UTSA by a 3-2 mark. Jordan Ballin then struck out, but a throw to second base gave Diaz enough time to head home, swelling the margin to 4-2.
The visitors’ lead was short-lived, as Memphis posted the highest-scoring inning of the weekend in the home half. Six singles and a walk were separated by a pitching change and just one out, setting up a three-RBI home run to cap the frame. Two straight flyouts followed the blast, sending both sides to the seventh with a 10-4 tally.
SEVENTH INNING
A walk and a fielder’s choice left Detlefsen on first before two singles on as many pitches to Haworth and Stucky loaded the bases. The next offering went to Josh Arquette, who landed his side’s fifth run of the day with a sacrifice fly to left. Blayne Lyne then took over pitching duties for the ‘Runners, retiring the side with little resistance as his side trailed by five.
NINTH INNING
After Ryan Self dealt the eighth with no damage, UTSA took its final trip to the plate down 10-5. The ‘Runners managed to get two aboard with a Caden Miller single and a Lane Haworth walk, but a flyout ended the game and secured the series in favor of the hosts.
NUMBERS OF NOTE
- UTSA dropped to 6-3 all-time against Memphis, falling to 3-3 on the road.
- The Navy & Orange dropped their first American Conference series in 736 days, last doing so against Wichita State in 2024.
- UTSA stranded 35 runners on base across the series, tallying nine on Sunday.
- For the first time this week, the visitors played error-free in the finale.
- For the seventh straight American Conference game, the ‘Runners failed to hit a home run, falling to 4-3 over the span.
- Caden Miller’s two-walk day was his 12th of the season with multiple bases on balls. The sophomore boosted his team-high total to 47 in the loss.
- Lane Haworth, Andrew Stucky and Diego Diaz all led the way with two hits on Sunday.
- Jake Qualia finished his third collegiate start with two runs allowed across 4.0 innings of work.
- Four different Roadrunners followed up with an inning each behind the freshman, with Blayne Lyne and Ryan Self going scoreless.
- Memphis became the second team in conference and the 10th overall to tally at least 12 hits off of UTSA this season.
UP NEXT
Following their series at Memphis, the ‘Runners will head back home for the final week of the regular season. Before hosting UAB over the weekend, UTSA will host Texas State (31-21) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. All the action from Roadrunner Field will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via utsa.statbroadcast.com.
-UTSA-